1932 Ford Highboy Coupe - Dynaliner Deuce Coupe

There's always something interesting happening in hot rodding, and this can be directly attributed to one-of-a-kind, original-thinking individuals who live in our world. This month's featured cover car represents the fauxtina look, as it has grown to be a noteworthy addition to our hobby. The liberal use of both old and new (muriatic acid was used to age) parts gives these cars a place of their own.

The Dynaliner Deuce highboy coupe belonging to Scott Whitaker of Hamilton, Ohio, is the latest (and possibly the most creative) in a run of these cars. If this car looks vaguely familiar, you either attended the 2005 SEMA show or saw pictures of the featured vehicles. You may remember the "half car," or the half of a Bonneville coupe with the .5 number on the door. It was a hit at the show, but it also brought the point home for Dynamic Control, the manufactures of Dynamat, as an excellent traffic builder for its booth. (Dynamat is a solution to unwanted noise and vibration commonly found in many aspects of life--not just our hot rods.)

What you see may not be the entire story with the Dynaliner Deuce coupe. Scott, who makes his living with marketing, understands the hidden meaning and the importance of appealing to the creative souls in all of us. Therefore, the coupe is loaded with read-between-the-lines messages.

This car was built at Scott's hot rod shop, Speed Kings of Cincinnati (famous for faux'd automobiles), which is manned daily by Josh Shaw and Jamie Reedy, but Charlie Mallory, Ben Whitaker, Scott "Slick" Williams, and Jason Smith also contributed mightily to the overall project. With Scott's creative guidance, all the guys put in the hours, and we do mean hours, having built both the .5 car and the 1.0 car.

Let's take a closer look at the coupe and see if there is more than meets the eye. Look closely at the license plate. It appears to be a state of Ohio license plate reading 999 AU. Yes, but what does it mean? Well, the number designation of 999 is a tribute to Henry Ford and the 75th anniversary of the Deuce. According to Ford Motor Company records, Henry was seeking investors in his soon-to-be motorcar company, and, in an attempt to gain notoriety, had famous driver Barney Oldfield pilot the 999 car in 1902 and '03, breaking several speed records. In 1904, Ford achieved the publicity he desperately needed by breaking two records in the Arrow (sister car to the 999) on a frozen lake in St. Clair Lake, Michigan; he set a speed record (91.4 mph) and covered the mile in 39.4 seconds. And what about the letters AU? Well, for those of you who fell asleep in chem class, find yourself a periodic table. Clue: Look closely at the 79th element titled Au--it's gold. "Hmmm," you say, "the car is gold in color--that's clever." Well, the story isn't finished. Note that it's also the 75th anniversary of the Deuce and the traditional anniversary gift is a diamond, but the modern gift for the 75th is, you guessed it, gold.

The D/C class distinction painted on the side of the car truthfully stands for Dynamic Control, the company that markets Dynamat. For the record, if we were trying to get the right designation, the car would be an XF, which designates a Ford- or Mercury-production Flathead V-8. It too would carry the letters BG for blown gas, or possibly BGCC for blown gas competition coupe, but you get the drift. (Editor's Note: Yes, we are aware of the pre-'59 class designations, which were later turned around.)

One fun appointment is the spreader bar, which is made from an early Ford wishbone; and, while it is the rear spreader bar/bumper, note that it features a relatively quick release that allows Scott immediate access to the quick-change. Look closely at the pushbar and it too may look familiar. It's a pushrod all right, but this one didn't come from any ol' small-block; it is directly from a big-boy diesel--bend and all!

On the subject of the rearend, it is based on a Dick Spadaro Early Ford Reproductions (Altamont, New York) Winters quickie with 3.78 gearing, '37 Ford bells, and early Ford axles. Other rearend items include a POSIES (Hummelstown, Pennsylvania) SuperSlide spring, '40 Ford drum brakes, and scratch-built wishbones by the guys at Speed Kings. The Vintique 17-gallon gas tank was notched to clear the quick-change.

The chassis is based around a pair of American Stamping 'rails bent into place by Dennis Lesky and son Matt at Ionia Hot Rod Shop (Ionia, Michigan), who provided the 'rail, belled boxing plates, and K-members. The Speed Kings fabricated, welded, boxed, lengthened, kicked (2 1/2 inches at the firewall), and pinched the frame. Just your basic hot rod mods! They also stretched the wheelbase to 112 inches (approximately 5 inches longer than stock), step-boxed the frame, and built the frame with lots of old-timey looks (round head rivets, belled K-member). The front crossmember is another scratch-built item from the Speed Kings staff. The frontend utilizes a '37 Ford tube axle (one year only for the V8/60 cars) coupled with Pete & Jake's (Peculiar, Missouri) spindles, POSIES SuperSlide spring, modified Speedway Motors (Lincoln, Nebraska) friction shocks, '40 Ford drums, Schroeder (Burbank, California) side steering, '39 Ford steering column, and a Kugel Komponents (La Habra, California) master cylinder and swing pedal assembly. The coupe rolls around on familiar rubber with Coker 4.50x19 Excelsior's (four-ply nylon) mounted to 4x19 wires in front, and in back, Coker 6.50x20 Firestones are mounted to 5 1/2x20-inch rear wires. The one-of-a-kind Rolls Royce-style aluminum wheel covers carry out both the vintage and racing themes nicely.

The body began life as a collection of pieces from Brookville Roadster (Brookville, Ohio). The idea was to complete the half-car that was such a success at SEMA and other shows like the Detroit Autorama. Beginning with a floor full of sheetmetal, other items, such as the nose, dashboard, and 31-louver hood, were all scratch-built to go along with the project. From here, Josh and Jamie Reedy got to work giving the coupe a slant chop--6 inches in front with a laidback A-post, and a 5-inch chop in back. From here, the hood came to life after two stock hoods were cut up and put together featuring 31 louvers, while the grille is another Speed Kings item called the Rocket, displaying 32 teeth.

The bodywork is yet another Speed Kings in-house project, handled by Jamie, while Josh tuned up his spray gun to apply the gold and ivory colors. Josh also applied all of the lettering and related artwork to the final sheetmetal. The headlights are '36 Ford with Vision X (Kent, Washington) parabolic reflectors and HID bulbs; the taillights are genuine vintage aircraft lights. The door handles are '34 and the mirrors are more vintage peeps. Look above the doors and you will see the famous yet hard-to-find Les Noyes--the driver of record for the Dynaliner--but we think you can "see" right through this humorous note.If you are looking for good vibrations or a cool breeze, you may be surprised--stereo comes by way of the blown Flattie, and the A/C is achieved by driving in the early morning hours! Inside, it's more vintage rodding. The Speed Kings steel dash houses the Cyclops speedo cluster that sports a vintage pointer, and gas, temp, and oil gauges. The 5-inch Stewart Warner tach is neatly housed in the column drop, creating an early version of the "knee knocker tach." Charlie Mallory of Speed Kings handled the wiring using an American Autowire system. The buckets are real-deal military aircraft, while Jerry Schnetzer (Hamilton, Ohio) upholstered the snap-on canvas door coverings. Look closely and you will note the liberal use of Dynamat products throughout the interior.

The powerplant is just that--powerful. An 8BA Flathead comes by way of its 284 inches via a Scat crank with forged H-beam rods (4.125-inch), a 3.312-inch bore, and a compression ratio of 8.26:1 on this Dick Lewis-built motor. You can't miss the blower--known by various names, such as Italmeccanica, I.T. Superchargers, and S.Co.T. (Supercharger Company of Turin [in Torino, Italy])--it was one of the most popular "roots" style blower kits available in the 1950s. Other popular vintage and modern-day speed equipment that gives this V-8 the looks and performance are twin Stromberg 97s with copper screens and hose clamps yielding an old-timey pair of air cleaners, as well as Sharp heads (available through Wilcap), Speedway springs and water pump, Powermaster (Knoxville, Tennessee) PowerGen, Vertex mag, Fenton cast-iron headers, Smithy's exhaust, and a gennie Hildebrandt oil filter. The car ran so cool on its maiden voyage cross-country during the POSIES Dirty Driven Tour that Josh had to tape off the lower portion of the Walker (Memphis, Tennessee) radiator to bring the engine up to suitable operating temps. Hooked up to the Flattie to finish out the powertrain is a Tremec T5 five-speed tuned up by Classic Chevy 5 Speed using a McLeod (Placentia, California) flywheel, clutch, disc coupled, and a swan-style shift lever, with an Inland Empire Driveline (Ontario, California) 'shaft.

Well, there are the basics. Come back next month and you will read and see more about how this Deuce coupe fared on its first outing across the country from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Las Vegas, Nevada, just in time for the 2006 SEMA Show. We will give you a hint--the car performed flawlessly. But, there is more to tell from the human-interest standpoint, and, let's face it, there is nothing like a good hot rod story to tell around the ol' campfire.